Floricultores, Camaguey, Cuba, 2003

Floricultores, Camaguey, Cuba, 2003

This family is posed outside their home in the small Cuban village of Camaguey. They are known as “floricultores” because they grow flowers for a living, which they sell in the market. The woman on the right is a Sephardic Jew. Her family originally came from Spain, many generations ago, but migrated to Turkey and eventually to Cuba, where she was born. Her husband, on the left, was not born Jewish, but he converted to Judaism when they got married. In the middle of the picture, you can see their daughter, as well as the husband’s parents.

Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but in the seventh you shall let it rest and lie fallow. Let the needy among your people eat of it, and what they leave, let the wild beasts eat. You shall do the same with your vineyards and your olive groves.– Exodus (Shemot) 23:10-11